I teach machine quilting and use my Featherweight when I do so. I also machine quilt large quilts on it. My motor is just fine, and while I admit that getting a large quilt into the harp is more of a challenge than a machine with more space, I have done it more than once and I free motion quilt all the time. So, yes, it is possible to FMQ on a FW. No, I do not cover my feed dogs. I just set the stitch length to zero and away I go.